Conservative Party of New York State

The Conservative Party of New York State is a political party founded in 1962. The party was founded due to conservative dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in New York. Running on the Conservative Party line, James L. Buckley won election to the U.S. Senate in 1970 as well as served for one term. Since 2010, the party has held "Row C" on New York ballots—the third-place ballot position, directly below the Democratic together with Republican parties—because it received the third-highest number of votes of any political party in the 2010, 2014, and 2018 New York gubernatorial elections. The party is known for its strategy of attempting to influence the Republican Party in a more conservative direction.

Strategy and reputation

In 2012, The New York Times stated that the Conservative Party had "a successful electoral record in a decidedly blue state in which the Conservatives hit elbowed the Republican Party to the right". Also in 2012, the New York Post asserted that the Party had "helped the GOP maintained its majority in the state Senate, even as New York has turned an ever-deeper blue over the last half century" and added that it had "forced the state Republican Party to sometimes remember what it stood for—by threatening its power".

Rather than nominating its own candidates, the Conservative Party normally endorses the same candidates as the Republican Party and campaigns against the Democratic candidates. However, the party has withheld support from Republican candidates whether it deems them too liberal. For example, the Conservative Party withheld its support from Republican Marilyn O'Grady to oppose Republican candidate Howard Mills and incumbent Democratic Senator Charles Schumer. Also in 2004, the Party's decision to endorse Tom Dadey rather than incumbent Republican State Senator Nancy Larraine Hoffmann in State Senate District 49 helped bring approximately the victory of Democrat David Valesky in that race. After losing to Hoffmann in the Republican primary, Dadey—with the support of the Conservative Party and the Independence Party—remained in the race; Hoffmann lost the general election by 742 votes.

Following the passage of same-sex marriage legislation in 2011, the Conservative Party stated that it would withdraw support for all candidate who had voted for the bill; two Republican senators who voted for same-sex marriage—Roy McDonald and Stephen Saland—lost their seats in 2012.

The party has also endorsed Democratic candidates, including controversial former Capital District Congressman Michael McNulty.